Hickenlooper, Colleagues Introduce Bill to Codify Right to Contraception

Press Release

U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper joined over half of the Senate Democratic caucus in introducing the Right to Contraception Act, which would codify the fundamental and constitutional right to contraception. The U.S. Supreme Court first recognized this right more than half a century ago in Griswold v. Connecticut.

"We should never sit by as the Supreme Court considers taking away a right to contraception. We must protect access to all reproductive health care," said Hickenlooper.

The introduction follows Justice Clarence Thomas' concurring opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization -- overturning Roe v. Wade -- in which he urged the Court to reconsider its 1965 Griswold decision. Several states have already restricted access to contraception by cutting off public funding for it, defining abortion broadly enough to include contraception, and allowing health care providers to refuse to provide services related to contraception based on their own personal beliefs.

The Right to Contraception Act would uphold access to contraception by:

Creating a statutory right for individuals to obtain contraceptives and to engage in contraception;
Establishing a corresponding right for health care providers to provide contraceptives, contraception, and information related to contraception;
Allowing the Department of Justice, as well as providers and individuals harmed by restrictions on contraception access made unlawful under the legislation, to go to court to enforce these rights; and
Protecting a range of contraceptive methods, devices, and medications used to prevent pregnancy, including but not limited to oral contraceptives, long-acting reversible contraceptives, emergency contraceptives, internal and external condoms, injectables, vaginal barrier methods, transdermal patches, vaginal rings, fertility-awareness based methods, and sterilization procedures.

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